


Silence

by JoAsakura



Category: DCU - Comicverse, The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-26
Updated: 2009-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-03 19:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoAsakura/pseuds/JoAsakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU- set around Countdown #34</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silence

There hadn't been time to decide which was worse, the hideous pain or the icy look on the face of the Flash. Piper knew he was screaming, knew Trickster was screaming, the smell of singed fabric and ozone filling his nose.

It felt like something deep inside of him broke then, and as the world descended into a deep silent black, the Pied Piper thought with almost-relief (Oh, good. I'm dead.)

~~~

He woke up in silence. Piper was first aware of the tubes up his nose, throat dry from supplied oxygen. He turned his head slowly to see a hand holding his, and followed up the arm to see James, head lolling back in a chair, asleep.

Piper smiled a little, but it went away immediately. He was in a hospital. Why was it so quiet? He should've been able to hear everything...

He only knew he was screaming then, because he could feel it.

~~~~~~~

The sound woke James with a terrible start and it took him a moment to sort out where *he* was. He tightened his hand on Piper's and scrambled closer to the hospital bed. "Piper! Hart.. Hartley...?"

Piper looked down at their joined hands, then up at James with terrified eyes. His voice was ragged and pitched so low James could barely hear it. "I can't hear anything." he rasped. "James.. I can't hear anything."

The doctors had been afraid of this after Piper's MRIs. Deathstroke had broken the temporal bones in Piper's skull during their beating. They had been broken once before, during a beating in Iron Heights, and that time, small fractures had made their way into Piper's implants. Their subsequent high-speed torment and electrocution, which had nearly killed them both, had struck the final blow.

A nurse came running into the room and James absently waved her off, making sure Piper was focused on him. "Hart. I know you can read lips, right?" He said slowly, hands tightening on Piper's arms.

"Y..yeah. Yeah." Piper murmured, tears welling in his eyes.

"Ok. Good. Now look. We'll figure something out. You have to trust me, ok?" James said with a calm he most certainly didn't feel. "I know you don't like the silence. I know. But it'll be ok."

Piper was shaking and lie back on the bed, looking away from Trickster. "I'm scared."

That made James' stomach lurch. Not once had he said he was frightened when they were running for their lives. He squeezed Piper's hand again, and put himself in his friend's field of vision. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." He said with a weak grin.

Piper's jaw worked for a moment, and he squeezed back. "I'll be here." he whispered.

~~~~~

He was going to talk to the desk nurse when he spotted a blink of red out of his peripheral vision. Wally was standing outside the door, looking in, hands stuffed into jeans pockets.

"Go away, Wally." James was actually a little surprised at the venom in his own voice.

The speedster turned. "James, I..."

"No. You've done enough. We couldn't save Bart, and so you've taken away something precious from Hart. I mean, I'm an asshole. You could've fucked me up and while I'm sure I'd plot revenge, yeah, maybe I'd've had it coming. But no, you have to go hurt HIM." He flailed for a moment. "He loved you like a brother, Wally. It killed him when you guys vanished." He added bitterly. "You've had your revenge, right? So sod the fuck off."

He saw the Flash's hand twitch for a moment and then he was gone. Trickster let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding and sagged against the nurse's station.


End file.
